Home Visit.... Check!

It was nowhere near as scary as I had imagined it would be... we made it through our home visit today with no problems or catastrophes. In fact, I thought it went really well! Our social worker came and we showed her our house, we signed more forms and answered more questions, and we went through the massive foster parent checklist. (Technically we will be foster parents until the adoption is finalized, so we have to meet the states requirements for foster parents as well.)

Here we are with our social worker:

Here she is filling out some forms with Andy (there were seriously a dozen more forms... we have to total well over 100 by now!):

And this is what Kenai did while we were working... he chewed on his bone, and PASSED GAS.  Yep, you heard me correctly... Every once in a while we'd get a whiff of nasty dog gas, which was actually kind of funny. We'd be talking about something serious and then get a whiff... and we'd laugh. It'll make for an interesting memory!

We made it!  Now, we wait for the home study document and paperwork to be completed (on our social worker's end) and then that will go to our placement agency for review. I wondered how on earth we'd ever get to this point in the process, but we did it! Our social worker is officially recommending us for placement!

Home Visit Tomorrow!

Before we started the adoption process, I remembering hearing about the 'home visit' during an adoption process and cringing... How could anyone go through that?  What would it feel like to be under a microscope like that? et cetera and so forth... Well, tomorrow is that day for us -- the day our social worker will come to our home and check things out -- the very day I dreaded way before we even started the adoption process.  Now that it's here?  Of course I have a few nerves and I'm hoping it goes smoothly, but it actually hasn't been as intimidating as I thought it would be. Now... tomorrow morning I may change my mind on this, of course!! But tonight, I'm not actually that nervous. (Now that I've hidden all the dead bodies we usually keep in our closets!)

I'm hoping that the size of our Christmas tree in some way indicates just how awesomely ready our home is for a baby... because it's huge!  And we're ready!!  Bring on the home visit!!

We will keep you posted!

The Last Christmas?

Each Christmas since 2006, there's been a question in my head... Is this it?  Will this be the last Christmas we share without a baby? Now, many Christmas seasons have passed and each year comes with the thought in my head that maybe by the time the next Christmas rolls around, we will have a baby to get to share it with... As the Christmases have come and gone without a baby, our journey to parenthood has had its twists and turns -- but this year, this time, when I ask myself the question, I'm daring to let myself think a different answer than I have before...  will this be the last Christmas?